Bardic Effect
by SmilingJester
Summary: A Changling bard finds himself dead after an order of men hellbent on killing all magic users finds him. That is not the end of his epic tale however, for he soon finds himself in another realm that is nearing it's apocalypse. A realm full of guns and science never thought to ever be able to exist. M for language and violence. may have adult situation later.
1. Chapter 1

**Yeah, I saw that there was no DnD and mass effect cross-over and thought. "Why not!" *Shrug* So I slapped in my level 11 changling Bard in the world of mass effect and here we are.**

**Hope you enjoy and please review so I may improve my writing!**

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"You want to Fight Twinkle-toes?!" The drunk man screamed at me as I finished my love song and accidentally glanced over at his date. It was an innocent glance, one she responded to. Being the head-strong and dare I say... Dashing, bard that I am, I immediately replied.

"Hell yes! You drunk!" I put my hand-held harp down gently and hopped off the table I was using as a stage in the tavern. I have some pent up aggression after a night of slow music. Being battle-hardened doesn't do the body good if you can't raise all kinds of mayhem.

The drunk man unleashed a battle cry and charges at me with fists raised. Timing it, I step into his guard and headbutt him in the nose. As he recoils from the strike, I sweep his legs from under him and finally, I deliver a vicious kick to his head while he's on the floor. Knocking his drunk ass to dreamland.

I give his unconscious body a graceful bow and go pick up my harp. I hop back onto the stage and continue playing as the tavern keep has his guards toss out the drunk that I just beat the hell out of.

The rest of the night goes without a hitch. Using my bardic magics, I was able to subtlety weave in the want to give me money for my performance.

I don't always do this, but at the moment, I don't have enough to even rent a room and I need to buy a sword as well. So I end up doing this to make them give a little more than what they would if they did. Not like I'm making them give over all their money! Just a slightly bigger tip.

This is not all I weave into my music. What kind of bard would I be if my sounds don't inspire emotion, so I add a little magic to make the lyrics and notes have more of an impact on people's' emotions. If the song is upbeat, it will make them want to dance, but if it's sad, then they WILL feel sad.

As I put the coins in my pouch and my harp in the case, there is a loud crash at the door of the building. Everyone looks over and sees the drunk with three men in plates flanking him. He looks around the room and when his eyes land on me, I see a sadistic smirk appear on his face. The former-drunk raises his arm and points at me, "That's him! That's the magic user!"

The room immediately falls silent. Magic users. In this day and age, being a user of the arcane arts is the equivalent of a death sentence by the Templars. An order that rose up when the new kingdom was created. Most people of the empire, Viana, can't use magic. It is just not in them to be capable to learn the art. Another thing that is a death sentence is being a magical being. Fairy, Elves, tiefling, drow, and what I am, a changling is an automatic head chop.

The inability to use magic led to jealousy of the ones who could and this soon led to hate and violence. The king decided that all magic users and magical beings are an affront to the gods and for this, they will all be put to death. None sense when a lot of the energy used by priests, Rangers, and other common warriors are gifts of the gods. The Elves are loved by the gods and they are killed in droves! This led to the Arcane Purge which killed eight percent of the empire's population. When said empire rules the north hemisphere of the world, that is saying something.

Back to the present, I immediately react at the right time and with no hesitation. "That is a lie! I am but a simple bard. If you search my person, you will find no ratty robes, or what are they?... Spell... thingies... Wands! That's it, you won't find any wands on my person either! All I have are some clothes, and my trusty harp," I finish patting on my harp.

The Templars draw their blades and advance. Thinking they will just search my stuff, I don't back away. This did not hold true as they grabbed me by the throat and tied up my hands. I start shouting, "What the fuck! Get your fucking hands off me, you..." I then sprout the most profane and vulgar set of insults that caused a few men to faint and women to blush like mad. Many involved a form of castration and/or the bludgeoning of the nether regions.

As I was about to get my second wind, a Templar snaps my harp in front of me. I instantly stop. Starring at the remains of my instrument. This causes all the Templars and the drunk to laugh. Seeing me stop struggling, the laughing Templars let me go. The bastard tosses my broken harp at my feet.

I crouch down and slowly pick up the harp that I have been using for five years. A gift from my teacher when he finish teaching me the basics of being a bard when I was thirteen. Holding both pieces, a strange feeling starts to burn in my back. Unknown to me, the back of my shirt blows off as I stare at my harp. Elaborate Celtic knots start spreading across my back and down my arms. Slowly they form a picture of wings within the knots.

As soon as the design is done. It let me know by burning into my body. Branding me forever with the pattern. After the burning dulls, I focus back on the present. Looking around my back, I see a mass of black feathers. Confused, I shake my back and they move with me. I also feel like there is a new limb on my back, so I try moving that outward and see that the wings move accordingly.

As my master would say to me when my magic did something strange, "Accept it and move on,"

Somehow, I know if I focus on getting rid of the wings, they will go back into my back, so I do. They quickly flash back in the new black branding. Sort of feels like changing, but normally I can't grow another fucking limb. I look up to see the Templars staring at me. "I'll be honest with you... I have no fucking idea what that was. Any of you got a guess because I'm drawing a blank here?"

The Templars snap out of their stupor at my voice. They all charge at me shouting demon. I dodge their strikes and back pedal. "WAIT! I'm still tied up! Stop attacking an unarmed man!" I shout waving my bound hands at them. "I surrender! Just don't kill me!" During my pleading, a bar patron stalked up behind me and broke a stool over my back.

I fall to my knees and receive a heavy kick in the temple from the armoured men. As I pitch back, my world goes black. The pounding of metal on flesh is what woke me up a few seconds later. As I lay there numb, I realize that the armoured men are alternating between kicking my downed form and punching it.

The leader of these Templars raises his bloody hand and calls, "Stop! We need him alive to help root out his heathen friends." Fat lot that will do them. Me being a TRAVELING bard and all. The men lift my limp form by the legs and drag me out of the tavern and down the cobblestone streets. I absently thought, 'You never know how uneven a place is unless you are dragged down it.' as my head bounces off the street over and over again.

I soon black out as the pain from the beating takes hold in my mind. When I awaken, I find that I have been put in a jail cell and tied to a very lumpy and cold bed. Looking around, I see that I am in a one man cell and that it is very... VERY dark in here. I can barely make out the bars of the cell thanks to a little bit of light from a torch outside of the tiny area.

I pull at the restraints and find them tight and with very little slack. I am to hurt to change to a smaller form. Sighing, I flop my head back to the bed and soon drift off to sleep. This is swiftly interrupted as the guards came in and beat the shit out of me for really no reason. Thankfully, they beat me into oblivion and I get to not experience their varying abuse.

I again wake up to the sound of guards shouting and the feel of cobblestone on my torso down. Seems that my hands are tied to a rope, which is dragging me with the back part of the wagon and making me face towards the street. Why do I keep getting knocked the fuck out and dragged?! Slowly, I open my eyes and find myself once again being dragged but this time, I am hooked to a prison cart... Come on! I see people in there! Couldn't have tossed me in?! No! Let's tie the broken bard to the back of a goddamn wagon and slowly drag him down the fucking street... AGAIN!

I shout up to a random prisoner, whose feet I see. "Umm... Hello there, I have sooooo many questions right now and I need answers! Can you help me?!"

I hear a voice answer, "Where are you? I don't see you in the wagon?"

"No... I am the bard that is being dragged behind the wagon... Do you know where we are going?"

I see some feet shift and assume they are looking at me. "We are heading to the execution block. I know why I'm going to die, but what did you do?"

"I don't fucking know?! One minute I am putting away my shit and the next Templars burst in and break my instrument! Next thing I know, I have fucking wings and then got the shit kicked out of me and woke up here."

"Damn... At least I killed someone to get here."

Sighing, I stop talking and will my legs under me and start to jog with the cart. Seems they let my legs alone and focused on my head and chest, so I pick up the pace and grab the bars of the wagon. Using the little strength I have, I jump up onto the side and hang off the side.

All the while muttering to myself about revenge and the indignity. I get a look at the person I was talking to and he looks like the meanest motherfucker on the planet. The squarest jaw with scars up and down his face and a thick brow that is in a permanent downward angle to look like he is scowling.

I wave energetically at him and hook my legs around the bar. I lower myself down using flexibility only brought by being a changling. At level with the rope, I untie it from the hitch and as it falls, I flip back up. Unchanging my teeth, I gnaw the ropes off using my naturally sharp teeth. The gods seem to want us to be meat eaters, so we all have sharp teeth for some reason.

Once the ropes fall, I wave at the stunned man inside the cage again and wait for an alley to pass. Seeing one up ahead, I roll off the cart and charge at the alleyway, knocking people out of the way... Only to see a big ass wall in my way.

I increase my pace and kick off the side wall upward to the lip of the roof. I just grasp it with my fingers when I feel something piece through my chest. As I fall, I see an arrowhead sticking out where my heart is. As I fall, my vision fades.

I hit the ground hard and roll to my feet... Wait what. Looking around, I see a large white plain. I hesitate for a second until it hits me. I am FUCKING DEAD! I look up into the sky and shout, "PISS!"

I feel a tap on my shoulder. I quickly turn around and see a figure in a large dark robe wielding a scythe. He waves heartily at me and I see his hands are covered in dark gloves, "Greetings young one! I am Death and I will be leading you to yo-" It pauses for a second and looks to the side. "What... What! Really?! Finally something interesting!" He looks back to me or I think he does, for some reason I can't see into his hood.

"Looks like it is your lucky day kid! The boss is bored and wants to do something interesting. Well if you agree that is. Big B wants to send you to another universe and see what happens. You will be healed. When you come out, you will be alive and as strong as ever, just... You know, in another universe."

I stare at the cloaked figure for a bit, "Why me?"

"I dunno, the boss gets bored very easily. It kind of sucks being a god. I should know, I gave being the god of travel a go for a bit when he was on vacation. Worst century EVER! All those whinny people begging for help, or forgiveness, or gods forbid money. Never shutting the hell up!"

"Does that mean I don't die?"

"No no no. You are still dead, but we can give you a new body and toss that into another universe."

"Umm... Okay, will I still be a changling and have my magic?"

"Sure, sure. You'll be the same as you left your world with," it said with a dismissive wave.

"'Kay, let's do this."

"What really?! Finally! You have no idea how many people actually turn down this offer, the last one to do this was like forty years ago! Let's get you caught up on the basics of the world you will be tossed in. First, it has something called guns." It conjured up a chunk of metal.

It passes the metal to me by the handle. "Now, point that over there," It says, pointing over to the side. I hesitantly do as told. "Put your finger in the guard," it tells me poking the hole in the "gun"

I slide it in and the little sliver of metal moves a little when I press it. "Now squeeze the trigger." I slowly squeeze the sliver of metal which I assume is this trigger. It suddenly barks and a bit of fire spits out of the end. It also kicks back, but using my strength gotten from surviving in the wild for years with my master, I easily handle it with one hand.

"You have just fired a gun. There are many like it, but this is referred to as a 'pistol'. There are assault rifles," it conjures up a long piece of metal which I see some of the components of the pistol in. "Snipers," another longer gun, "These are used for range combat far more than your bow and arrows. They are much faster too, so if someone points these at you, get out-of-the-way."

Another gun conjures and it is slightly shorter than the others, but bulkier. It hands it to me. It showed me how to hold it and when I fired it, it had a lot harder kick, but I still handle it well. For what is the next twenty hours, Death runs down the basics of the new universe I am going into. How to use their tools, how to shoot their guns acceptable, what videos were and what kind of technology that is to be expected. When questioned why it was doing this for me, it just laughed and said it was still an immortal being and I quote, "Shit gets boring when you can clone yourself to do your job."

"Well okay, you are good enough at their tools and weapons." A light appears behind Death. "Looks like it's time to go young 'un!" He disappears and appears behind me. Picks me up by my pants and scruff of my neck, "Don't worry! I gave you a heavy-duty dagger to use!" It tells me as it flings me through the portal.

I hit something that seems to be in armour. As we tumble to the ground, I roll over and quickly jump back and draw my new dagger. I see that I am in the futuristic alleyway and there are two people in... BANG!... one person in it. A female with a line of make-up on her lip and a cowl over her face who is now pointing a gun at me face.

I quickly raise my hands and rapidly say, "I'm not your enemy!" While infusing it with calming magic. Shit that could have helped if I used that at the tavern on the guards. She tilts her head to the side and speaks a language I have never heard. I feel like smacking myself. New universe, New language.

An orange light pops up on her wrist and she types something on it. She holds it out and it can read it! It says, "Why are you speaking ancient English?"

"Can you understand me?" She nods. "Cool! Um... Well I just died in my time and Death and his boss were bored so they gave me a rundown of this universe and as you saw, literally tossed me into it."

The woman just stares at me, "Umm... Other then the language, I do have some proof... Maybe... Do you all have changlings here?" She shakes her head no. I look at my hand and see that I am at my base form and only have my boots and pants on. Whoops. I Immediately change into her and back to my human form which is me with a more pronounced nose and more human coloring. I chose to keep my eyes a pale green like I was born with, just in human shape. Longish reddish black hair in a ponytail that thanks to my naturally puffy hair, flairs out from the tie and a goatee. I glance at my arm and see that the brand is still there. I will it away, but it won't disappear. That's going to put a damper in my disguises.

I was drawn from my thoughts when I got hit by a chunk of metal which I caught before it falls. I recognize it and slip it on and put the ear piece in. I hear the woman talk, "Much better, I didn't feel like typing everything I know. Now... How the hell did you do that?!" She asks me with a voice full of excitement.

Chuckling at the reaction to my birth power that isn't fear, I tell her, "It's a changling power, something you have to be born with like I was. If they aren't known then they have gotten better at hiding or I am the last of my kind... Thank the gods I don't have any care about my brethren or that would suck."

"Next question! Are you above stealing things?!" She quickly asks me bouncing on her toes in childlike glee. I chuckle some more and shake my head no.

"If I get something out of it, I don't care at all. As long as it's not my stuff getting stolen."

Hearing this, she says, "Can you help me get something back from a Jakkasu that killed my friend?!"

"Sure, I need some money anyways." I reach out my hand for a handshake, "Ciaran,"

She takes my hand and answers back, "Kasumi,"


	2. Chapter 2

As we walk down the streets of what I learn to be Citadel, Kasumi asks me some question about where I am from and I ask my own about this universe. I can't believe she is so accepting of this. "So, what was your job before you came here?" She asks as we round a corner to slowly leave the slums.

"I am a bard. Well, my talents maybe on hold until I can get another harp. Some jackass broke it before having his buddies beat the shit out of me."

"Is that how you died?"

"Nah. The guys were Templars whose goal is to kill all magic users and beings. Some guy I beat up accused me of being one, I would like to mention I beat him WITHOUT magic, and then the Templars came and broke my harp. I don't know how, but the emotional reaction from this caused these marks on my torso and arms which led to me sprouting wings in front of them... yeah that didn't go over well. They beat the shit out of me and the next thing I remember is being dragged down the streets on a cart full of prisoners. I almost escape, but take an arrow to the heart."

She looks at my tan tattooed, they look more like tattoos then anything else, chest and pokes me where the arrow hit. "Yeah, I see the scar." I look down and see indeed that there is a scar in the middle of a knot brand.

"Huh... well look at that. That guy had some good aim to hit a target scrambling up walls right in the heart. Any ways, what's your chosen profession in this realm?"

"I'm a master thief," She says without hesitation and with a grin. I smile at the fact that there was no hesitation in her answer. We once more walk in silence to the space docks to get on Kasumi's ship. Which we will us to get to Omega where the man we will be stealing something from. Hopefully, she will have some clothes that will fit me because I am getting some stares from the population here.

As I am lost in thought, Kasumi shoves a bag into my hands. Where did she get this? I look over to where Kasumi was to see nothing. She couldn't have moved for more than ten seconds. Where did she get this bag?

As I stare at her and the bag, she just giggles and says, "Master thief."

Looking in the bag, I see some shirt, jacket and pants. I thank her and head into an alley to change. I come out wearing what Kasumi calls a wife-beater, a jacket made of what seems to be leather, but dyed black with red stripes down both arms from shoulder to the end of the sleeve and pants made of black cloth with a large pocket just above both knees. She calls them cargo pants. I slide the belt for the sheath of my new dagger through the belt loops.

When I come out, she gives me a wolf whistle and continues to lead to the docks. As we walk, I study the different cultures and creatures, so I can blend in better. I soon start adopting a walk that is less confident than mine and slightly hunch my shoulders. It seems body language didn't change, so I make myself less intimidating and aggressive looking. Traits that sometime poke through my masks that I have to constantly check myself from. Can't have a bard that looks like he will tear your eye out. I really don't know why I have that kind of walk either. I'm not super strong or really skilled at fighting. Sure I've been on some battles and helped siege a few castles, but not much after that.

The Turians of the realm looks to be predators, so I have to watch out for them. The Salarians seem to be passive, but excitable creatures that have a logical outlook on things and don't seem to be physical fighters. More of a range or magic flinger. Last race I see is the Asari which look to have mannerisms of elven nature.

As we walk up stairs, I see a set of numbers that I recognize as 26, thank the gods the numerical system is still the same. As we walk, I see what Kasumi has told me, an officer manhandling a woman in a full body suit with a helmet with glass visor. "Quarians... They are thought to be thieves everywhere, but the few I know are good people." Kasumi says with sadness in her voice.

A fat halfling next to the two has his arms crossed and if I could see through his mask, I would see a smug look on his face. "Wait here."

I jog up to the three and ask, "Yo, what's going on? No need to manhandle the woman sir."

The halfling turns to me and says in halted speech like he's some obese man with breathing troubles, "this is, none of your concern, Earth-Clan! The good officer is, just arresting a, thief that stole my credit chip!"

The Quarian spoke up, "I'm not a thief! I didn't take anything from you! YOU bumped into ME outside the used ship dealer! That doesn't make me a thief! That makes you a jerk!"

I say to the officer, "Did you find the chip on her person?"

"The scan came up with nothing, but that doesn't mean she would not have stashed it."

"Umm... You're kind of bad at your job... Pickpockets and thieves are mostly a very paranoid bunch. They would not just steal something, stash it and come back. They would leave with it and then stash it, come back in like an hour to hit another target. Plus I don't see a pocket on your short ass." I see to the midget.

"I have pockets within the back of my suit sir!"

"If you bumped into her, then it was from the front so... She couldn't have reached around and searched your pockets that quick without being noticed. It probably fell out when you bumped into each other or you left it in the store." I calmly say in an almost bored voice.

"I did not even purchase anything! So it couldn't have been left in the store!"

"Officer, have you checked with the store or searched the grounds before arresting her?"

"No, and I don't need a civilian to do my job!"

"How bout this, I go check the area around the store and at the store. Give me directions and five minutes and if I don't come up with anything, you can arrest her."

"Fine. Five minutes, but if you don't find anything, I will arrest you for obstructing justice!" The officer gives me the directions and I go check out the store the midget who is called a Volus I learn. I walk up to the Salarian shopkeep and ask, "Did a Volus leave a credit chip in here?"

"Why yes, he purchased some drivers and forgot it. I didn't notice it was here until he had left. If you find him, please tell him I have it behind the counter."

"Thank you sir." I walk back to the group and say, "You left it in the store you dumbass. The shop keep is holding it for you."

The officer let's go of the Quarian arm and backs up. "Okay you are free to go, but I am watching you. Next time you get in trouble, I'm bringing you in for vagrancy."

As he starts to walk away, I call after him, "You sir, are a DICK!" He turns around and marches into my face. I have seem scarier drunk people then him.

"What did you say?!"

I flash my eyes a bright crimson red with an unearthly glow, flaming cracks start to spread up my neck to my face and I repeat myself with shifted vocal cords to have a deeper, more malice filled voice, "You sir, Are. A. Dick!" I growl out the last word. He flinches back from the sudden change. He starts to back away as I make my eye color slowly turn brighter crimson as it spreads to the white of my eyes.

I unleash my black wings which tear a four-inch holes in the back and then they unfold into their full form. The officer and the Volus bolts. Once they are out of sight, I change my features back to what they were and have my wings slide back in.

"Ah, nothing makes a man flee faster than a black angel. Seems that still hold true here." I turn to the Quarians, whose eyes are comically wide behind her mask. "You okay?" She slowly nods. "Cool! Well, now that's that is done, Kasumi! Let continue on!" I call back playfully point the way we were going.

I start walking the way to the port, ignoring all the stares I was now getting from the crowd that saw what I just did. Eh, might as well make an impression not to be fucked with. Kasumi steps up next to me and says, "You know, you mentioned wings, but I never thought they would be so... Badass!" We both fall into a fit of laughter as we walk to the docks.

"So, where do you think you got those wings from?"

"Well... I'm an orphan so I didn't know my parents, but I would hazard a guess and say one of them was either a demon or an angel, but judging by the type of wings they are, it would seem my parent mated with an angel of vengeance. Don't know how that would work, but don't care, got some kick ass wings out of the deal."

"Wait, angels and demons are real where you come from?"

"Yeah, there not here?" She shakes her head, "Oh... Well the gods are real too in my realm. They regularly talk to their worshipers... well if they feel like it. Death gave me the impression that being a god can be very boring and repetitive."

"I can see that. Anyways, we are here finally." We walk into an area and there is a rather small ship. Never seeing a space vehicle, I am impressed anyways by the size and complexity of everything. Thank the gods for my magical background. If I was some human fighter, with no experience in magic, I can see myself freaking the hell out when I got here.

We board the ship, I take the back seat and Kasumi takes the pilot one. Next thing I know, we are flying through space. After the amazement of being in space wears off, I sit down in the back and take a nap. Dying took a toll on me and plus I think I've been awake for about twenty-two hours.

I get flung forward into the pilot seats when Kasumi suddenly stop the aircraft and smash my face into the back of it. Groaning, I climb to me feet. She turns around and says, "Ah, your awake! Great! We just got here!"

Looking out the window, I see we have already docked at Omega. "Anyways, stay here. I got to go pick up your suit and identity for the party along with the gift." She doesn't wait for a reply and just heads out. I sigh and flop down back in my spot.

An hour and a nap later, Kasumi comes in with this... suit. It is all made out of silk and the shoes are shiny. She hands me the clothes and I put them on getting another set of wolf whistles from Kasumi as she watches. I have no modesty, so I did it there. I will walk around a city in just pants if I feel like and change clothes in front of a female. I think it comes with the ability to change into any body that you just don't care what you look like.

"Okay, now that you mostly look the part," I change into a clean-shaven older gentleman, "Now that you look the part, you are Solomon Gunn. An intergalactic gun dealer that is looking for contacts." I nod, acknowledging my back story. I do need to keep the talking to a minimum to make sure I don't give away my ignorance. "Your gift is a nearly perfect fake golden statue of a rogue... Elite... in the military. Saren. He was also one of his contacts, so this should impress Hock. That's the guy we are stealing from. Donovan Hock," She says his name with immense hate. "Inside the statue is a set of guns I stole for you. Just a standard assault rifle, nothing too fancy. Also we are going to send your clothes with it,"

"Okay, so I go in there, talk to Hock for a bit which you will... 'record' and use that to open the locks. Why aren't you in something formal? With that on, no lord... host would let you in. I think they have problems with not seeing people's faces. If this Hock is like you say he is, he would probably not let you in. Wouldn't it be better if you were on the floor with me instead of stalking around where if you get caught, that's it for the job? You could be disguised as my sister or wife. That would make sense."

"Whoops... Hold on that makes a lot more sense." She leaves and comes back in a few minutes with a dress on. A tight black dress that shows off her curves and toned body. Her hair done up in a bun. "okay, I like your story. I'll be Allison Gunn. The back story I set up did hint at a wife."

We get out of the ship and make our way to the "rapid transit" which seems to be this worlds wagon service, but with a flying car. We arrive just as the statue arrives. A rather impressive sculpture, not dwarf-grade, but by human standards, a masterpiece. As we are about to walk in, a guard stops us., "One moment sir, there seems to be an issue with the statue."

Before we could reply, a man walks down the steps asking, "is there a problem here?"

"No Mister Hock, just doing a scan."

"I don't believe we've met. Donovan Hock."

"Greetings sir. My name is Solomon Gunn and this is my lovely wife, Allison Gunn," I introduce us with as much charisma that my profession has given me while I lace my words with trust and ending with a slight bow. Enough to show respect, but not enough to show submission.

"Ah, I've heard a lot about you Mister Gunn, if the extranet is to be believed. Anyways, I don't believe these two would come all the way here to cause trouble, so you may pass. Please enjoy the party."

I smile and offer Kasumi my arm and we walk in. As we make our way around, Kasumi whispers to me, "Nicely done. Where did you learn to act like that?"

"I've been to a number of noble's balls as entertainment. As a changling, I have learned to watch and copy accents, style, mannerisms, the works and I just busted out an old one."

We mingle around a bit and map out the party. We easily find the vault and find that we need the voice, plus something called DNA and a password. After Kasumi gives me the basics of DNA, we go and try to get a voice sample from Hock.

Kasumi waits around the side ready to record and I go up to Hock. "Mr. Hock, I would like to thank you for allow us to join this party."

"I hope the affair at the gate didn't ruin your evening."

"Not at all, a man such as yourself has to be cautions. I would have done the same myself if it meant the safety of me and my guests." I give him an easy smile.

This starts him to give a speech that I listen to to get his mannerisms and speech pattern down. His accent sounds like a posh dwarf. After that, he subtly dismisses me and I wonder and mingle for a bit. Kasumi soon leads me to an open door. Going through the door closes and locks.

"Okay, behind that door is the security office. Do you think you can act as Hock and take out the guards?' I reach into my suit and bring out the dagger I got. A black non-reflective fixed blade. Morphing my face into Hock and hiding my hands behind my back, I take up his posture and stride into the office. The guards stand up and before they can talk, I slit one's throat and throw the dagger at the other, piercing his heart.

"Clear."

After some searching, we find out the password and where Hock's room is and to use Chief Roe to get in. Kasumi has her voice, so all should work. I change back and leave with Kasumi. No one the wiser that the two are dead. After some persuasion and another search, we find and get the sample of DNA from a datapad. This realm's books. We leave and go back to the vault and using all that we got and while I was killing people, Kasumi had cut the shield that she didn't tell me about. Not that I would have known what the hell she said.

Locking the room, we open the statue and change. Neither of us caring if the other saw us naked. After we are dressed in our outfits and have our guns, we enter the moving room which Kasumi calls an "Elevator" All I know is that it is SLOW! Finally we are let out in a room full of statues. Looking around for a bit, we find the thing Kasumi came for along with two guns. One for each of us.

Suddenly a large head pops out of no where. It's Hock. He starts to gloat and threaten Kasumi, so I draw my new gun and shoot one of his pots to shut him up. If they are in a vault, then it must be expensive. He starts shouting for the guards to kill me.

The door on the other side of the room slides open and I start shooting at them with Kasumi as she ducks behind cover. I call out an insult and lace it with power causing all who hear it to grasp their head as they slowly die from the mental attack. Their shields doing nothing to help. They all die due to the attack and I loot their bodies. Finding a few grand in credits. I also steal the chief's shield and with Kasumi's help, integrate it into my omni-tool so I now had something to protect me and a good shield at that.

We continue on. I had already explained what a bard could do with a few simple words to Kasumi. The next rooms held some enemies and giant fucking robots that we had to gun down. The shield really came in handy here. I don't know how many times I would have outright died if not for that shield taking the round for me. A bullet to the head would not have been pleasant.

We enter a large room with vehicles spewed all around it. The fire fight did not last long as they were just minor grunts of some mercenary group. No big deal. Kasumi tells me to use the cannon to blow through a wall. She points to a vehicle with a long tube on top with an opening at the back. Hopping in, I see a stick with a red trigger like button, another button with "activate" on it and a screen with the wall on it.

First, I press the second button and the machine powers up. Okay, you can do this. I assume the other trigger-like one fires the thing so I hit it. My ears almost shatter from the noise, but the wall is now gone. Looking though the hole I made, I see about five dismembered bodies. That's just a bad day for them.

I stumble out of the cannon and meet up with Kasumi and we continue on our wide-spread killing spree.

We finally make it outside and suddenly a large ship comes up and starts tearing up the ground with automatic fire. I dive behind cover as Hock mocks us. I launch a few words filled with domination in them at him. Thanks to the speakers in the gunship, he heard me fine and followed the directions. The ones that said, "Kill yourself."

"Yes Sire," I heard his monotone voice over the speakers then a bark of gunfire. The gunship started to spiral out of control and crashed into the ground, exploding on impact. All that was left was kill the panicking mercenaries.

After that was done, Kasumi's contact showed up with a shuttle to get us away and back to the main parts of the city. In the shuttle, Kasumi starts to watch the recording she picked up. Once done, she asks me, "this has incriminating stuff and Keiji told me to destroy it, but I don't know what to do?!"

"Just keep it and hide it. It seems to mean a lot to you and if you want to keep it, do so." She gives me a smile and goes back to reading and watching whats in the piece of hardware.

When we get off the ship, we head to the nearby bar for a bite to eat to celebrate a job well done. Barring the large amount of causalities. Kasumi turns to me, "So what now for you dead man? Want to part ways or continue the life of a thief?"

I look around the area we are in and see mercenaries and drunk people. All of whom are armed to the teeth with weapon. "yeaah... I think I'd rather be a thief then try and entertain this crowd. I think if I give a bad performance I may get shot. So you've got yourself a partner." I reach out to shake on it which she enthusiastically takes.


	3. Chapter 3

That deal started a wave of crime unseen in the galaxy since the shadow broker started their organization. We hit many places, leaving no trace we were ever there except for the lack of expensive artifacts. Over the year, I learned more about this realm and the technology. I can safely handle any gun and accurately fire all of them. I also learned overcharge and more subtle tech skills. Finally, Kasumi showed me the subtle art of being a thief. Even the invisible thing she has going for me. My signature style is to sneak up behind targets and dominate them to let us into the vaults. Needless to say, we have made a lot of money.

Also needless to say is we scared a lot of people. The blue suns tried to hunt us early on, but they gave up after we killed over a hundred of them. Using informants in the suns, we found they wrote that it was just a bad job all around and didn't want to loss more men. They do still have a shoot on sight order for us still.

I still keep my jacket and cargo look, only changing my shirt to black. During our spree, we heard this "Shepard" person came back to life and is now recruiting members. After we hear this, three days later, a company contacted us and asked for our assistance for a rather... Huge sum of money. We obviously agree and are currently waiting for Shepard to show up.

Kasumi got some weird set up on an advertisement pedestal. It's just her face saying not very subtly that we are criminals for hire. A group of people approach that I see to be Shepard, a red-headed woman with freckles and her gang. A human female who looks FAKE and Turian with a huge scar on his face. I am disguised as an old man next to the pedestal. Complete with a cane and elder's clothes. About four feet tall with a hunched back. To complete this, I am smoking a old fashion cigar I nicked from a store a ways back.

As the three approach Kasumi's gig. These two teens come running up and knock me over. I shout to their laughing backs as I pick myself up, "You jackass motherfuckers! I hope you choke on your godsdamned fucking tongue..." I continue yelling foul obscenities at them until they are gone around the corner. I hear Kasumi's laughter above.

It suddenly breaks as a cracking sounds overhead and her yelling, "Shit!" Looking up, I see her falling from the catwalk. With a railing broken above her. She tries to catch herself but just flips herself around to hit the ground headfirst as she failed to hold on. I toss the cane and sprint to catch her as the three soldiers all start to look who cried out. The catch had fortunately slowed her descent.

I jump up and vault off the Turian's back to catch Kasumi before she hits the ground. I land badly and slide along the ground on my now dislocated shoulder. Groaning, I let Kasumi roll off my chest. "You good?" I ask her in my old man voice as she gets up.

"Yeah, thanks you foul-mouthed old man." I snort and kick myself to my feet. I look over and see Shepard and the bunch staring at me. Sighing, I pull my shirt from my head and loosened my pants. I then change back to my human form and tie my hair back into the flared out ponytail. Once that's done, I jump up and slam my shoulder into the ground which made a loud pop echo into the area.

"PISS! That fucking hurt!" I say as I get back to my feet and pick up my old man shirt and drape it over my shoulder. Rubbing my shoulder, I look back to Shepard, "Greetings Commander! As you probably can tell due to my associate here, my name is Ciaran! Pleasure to meet you! I'll just go hang around your ship until you leave."

Kasumi tosses me a bag of my normal clothes which I pull on as we walk away from the dumbstruck group. I grab the cigar on the way and snub it for later use. As we walk I start laughing. "What?"

"I just realized that Shepard got a gander at my tattoo while as an old man. How did it hold up in an aging body? Did the wrinkles distort everything?" I continue laughing.

"Actually it did hold up well. It looked out of place, but other than that it was fine." At this, I bark out another laugh as we stop at the Normandy. I go behind some crates and put on my roomy pants and new combat boots. My old leather ones got shredded to hell when a guard varren got a hold of my foot.

After an hour. Shepard comes back with a new gun on her back. Must have been a gun run as well as recruitment. Shepard walks up to me and looks me over, like she is examining if I am good enough to join her.

"So you're a shapeshifter. H-"

"Not a shapeshifter. A changling." I interrupt her as I revert to my base form. My hair staying the same. My base form also seem to have grown my goatee. Finally. "I don't like being called one of those mindless creatures. All they do is kill things. I like to think I have far more control than that."

Kasumi barks a laugh. "what about that client in Omega?"

"Hey! That guy was a complete bastard! Besides, all I did was put a bullet through his knee."

"Yeah, with your sniper rifle point-blank."

"If your going to shoot someone, no reason to half ass it."

"Okay, what about that ritual you did that made like three tons of that gold that disappeared? Call that self-control?"

"Yes... That was a good day for a ritual. Glad that all those Asari plants have magical components or I would be fucked in that regard of my craft."

Shepard sighs and just leads us into the ship and shows us around. I keep my base form so everyone in the area knows that its me and I'm allowed on the ship. I bunk in the same room as Kasumi.

Over the speakers, Shepard announces that we will be going to a prison to pick up the next member of the crew. Jack who is a biotic. I think I heard about her. A certified lunatic with the power of an elder wizard. A scary combination, but common with beings of immense power.

As we travel, Kasumi and I unpack and set up our stuff. Mostly a tech lab to repair our things. Only I can fix my gear because using one of the last things my master taught me. I enchanted my weapons with the Whistling enchantment which helps me use my magic with my attacks. I even made it in the upper tiers thanks to all the combat and practice I've had with my bardic magic!

Once everything is set, I wander the ship to introduce myself. I find the Turian, Garrus in the weapon systems doing some calibrations so I leave him alone. I next find Miranda or the FAKE chick. She was not pleasant to talk to. Calling me a thief and murderer. I resent that! I am a cutthroat at most! Jacobs seems like a cool man. Loves his weapons. The doctor is nice, says not to visit too often. She gaves me a check up and finds that all is fine.

We arrive at the prison and Shepard orders us into gear. She wants to see how well we fight. I go back and pick up my weapons and meet her by the shuttle. She stares at me again. "Is that all you're wearing? Where is your armour?"

"Don't do armour. Limits my changing ability." Also I can't spread my wings in armour, but I don't think I can explain how I got wings without telling my background and the only reason I told Kasumi is because I needed help.

She just shakes her head and we mount up. As we walk through the prison, I get a bad vibe from everything. We are stopped at the gate, but Shepard... Persuades the guards to let us pass with our weapons. We continue on our way to Jack. Shepard stopped a guard from senselessly beating a prison for no reason. My vibes are confirmed when the warden locks us in a room at the end of the hall.

The warden seems to think it is a good idea to imprison and sell the war hero of the galaxy. Dumbass. The door opens and in streams hostiles. We all dive behind cover. The tables look rather sturdy. I guess they have to be with this being a prison.

"Cover your ears guys!" Kasumi follows my command immediately and Shepard looks at me, but doesn't follow. "Shepard, this is going to be loud, cover that shit up!" She reluctantly does so. I build up my magic in my lungs, when all is full, I stand and unleash a monstrous roar that shook the walls. The humans all grab their head and try to scream, but their heads burst in a spray of gore in their helmets and the robots all shirt-circuit and explode.

After all is done, I cry, "Now that is a Fucking Bardic attack Bitches!" and I flick the corpses off. Shepard staggers to her feet, shaking her head and once again staring at me.

"What was that," She said in a faraway voice.

"That my dear Commander is magic! Old bardic spell to add a heavy force to my shouts. Easily destroys your enemies, but tiring as hell. I worked for years to get to the level to use it and more to get that much power behind it."

"Where did you get this magic?"

Time to lie hard enough to make my ancestors proud. "From an old planet off in the corner of the galaxy. My master taught me everything he knew before I left. I guess you civilized folks would call it an advanced form of Biotics that works with sounds I make."

Shepard shakes her head and continues out the door. "Whatever. Let's find Jack and get off this blasted station." After blowing away more mercs as we advance down the hall, we come to a large room with a tech that Shepard guns down with a shotgun.

Kasumi tells us that if Shepard opens the door with the emergency switch, then it would unlock every cell in the prison. Now that is some shotty ass work right there. She presses it and we see out the window, Jack fucking some shit up and escaping. The door opens and the chase for Jack begins.

We cross to a well-lit area with a few bridges crossing a shallow gap in the floor. We all dive behind cover as gunfire rakes our position. I cloak myself and sneak around the cover to scout. I see three mercs, some loki bots, and one rocket troop. I report the info in and say, "Let me try something to soften them up."

I sneak around the suppressing fire and get behind the rocket troop. I whisper domination in his ear, "Aim at the cluster of your comrades and fire!"

"Yes sire," He droned and shouldered his weapon. After a pause he fires it and the mercs and loki bots all go up into flames. I draw my knife and quietly dispatch the traitor. Looking around, I see that got all of them. That was surprisingly easy.

I call out, "Clear, my lovely ladies!" They pop up from cover and I give an exaggerated stage bow. Kasumi walks up and gives me a high-five and we continue on. Shepard brushing it off as another bard thing.

We cut down the mercs like a super laser through half-melted butter. Quickly and messy with no resistance. Soon we find ourselves watching the warden of the prison gun down some unarmed prisoners. What a dick! He starts talking how he could have sold Shepard and have been a king. That would have KILLED him when the alliance found that out.

He has a dome of energy acting like a shield around him, fueled by three generators. As they raise from the ground, mercs swarm into the room below us. Idiots giving us the high ground.

Both Kasumi and I send an overload to the shield generators and Shepard blew the top off her's with a sniper rifle. Once down, We took the mercs while Shepard relieved the warden of his head with her next shot... That was almost sad how easy that was.

We finish off the blue sun and backtrack to the ship where we find Jack working herself into a rage after seeing the Cerberus symbol on the ship. Shepard gets her attention by shooting a merc that is sneaking up on her.

"What the hell do you want?!" Jack starts out the conversation that is sure to give me a headache.

"I'm Commander Shepard, I'm here to get you off this ship."

"I'm not going anywhere with a dog of Cerberus!" She viciously response. With my near elven hearing, I hear the ship blow up a little behind us.

I slap Shepard on the back, "Well, can't say we didn't try! I'll be on the ship! Have fun conversing a lunatic to join us, I however wish to NOT blow up in a prison!" I jog past Jack, well try to when she picks me up using her biotics and slams me into the wall, holding me in place. I look her in the eyes, "We got a problem here? You want to die and I don't. So let me go and we can leave you to your desired fate aboard an exploding prison in the middle of fucking space!"

She drops me and turns to Shepard, "Fine, I'll go with you, but you have to give me access to Cerberus files!"

"Sounds fair," Shepard answered. The two leave as I get to my feet.

Kasumi comes up beside me as I walk to the ship. "Nice job with that one," she complimented me.

"Little iffy once I got picked up, but it all worked out kind of how I planned it."

We enter the airlock as it closes and goes back to the ship. Commander takes jack to escort around the area and Kasumi goes back to working with her weapons or spinning around in a zero-g area near the mass effect engine. She likes sitting on the ceiling. I sometimes join her and see how fast I can spin before I fall out of the field and land on my face.

Over the comms, Shepard announces our next target. A Salarian scientist in a plague zone in Omega. Jacobs and I are part of the ground team for this set-up. There is a shudder in the ship as it hits the mass effect relay and we all settle in for the wait.


	4. Chapter 4

The wait wasn't that long. In the time it took to get there, I played a little ballet I learned from an Elf in the corner of the mess. A song of sadness, bittersweet victory, and vengeance. I fixed up a guitar that sounds decent. I am not skilled enough to make a harp and have it sound at all nice. The guitar is made out of wood I got from the Asari home world when Kasumi and I had a job there. I curved out the body and inside with my dagger. Since I was taught how to make must string and woodwind instruments, I knew the curves and shape it should be in. Didn't stop me from taking three months to make right.

The story behind the song is about an Elf that is fighting a war with his brothers. As the battle intensifies, one by one his brothers and soldiers get picked off as they fight their bloody battle. In the end, their king draws back, leaving his men to die and causing the rest of his remaining family to fall around him in a last-ditch effort to survive the battle.

His final brother disables him and hides him as he charges out to distract the soldiers. The Elf finds that he had died like a true warrior and had taken hundreds with him. He goes back to his king and challenges him to a duel for the abandonment. He wins, but succumbs to his wounds and joins his brothers and soldiers in the fields of Kord's realm.

By the end of the tale, I have an audience of most of the crew and all the soldiers on the ship. When I finish, they all cheer for the performance and go back to their work stations. Shepard comes up to me and thanks me, "Thank you for the entertainment. You may have noticed that it is very boring in space."

I snicker and reply, "Yeah. Glad I know a few things about entertainment or I'd be bashing my face into a wall from boredom." We share a laugh and she goes back to whatever she was doing. I pack up my stuff and just as I put the instrument in my locker. Shepard got on the comms and calls the ground team to assemble.

I take my human form and grab my gear. Kasumi wishes me luck and I'm off. Jacob and I arrive at the same time and we leave the ship. After moving around the station for a bit. We arrive at a door with a Turian guarding it. Shepard explains why we are there and we get in.

The first thing we see is a dying Batarian on the ground. I trained in healing from an underground priest for a bit and see that the plague has a necrotic type of effect as it rots the people from the inside out. The Batarian seems to have just got it recently, so with a little medi-gel, he should be able to get himself fixed up.

Thank the gods that Changlings have one of the best immune systems ever developed. This disease looks PAINFUL! Shepard gets some info from the dying guy on the location and background of the Salarian we are after. He gives it and Shepard gives him some of our medi-gel.

The next run has a dead Batarian which I hazard a guess that it is where the other got sick from. He had a few credits on him which Shepard takes and we continue on. The area is riddled with dead bodies and bullet holes. Seem the mercs have lost their fucking mind in here and just decided to kill everyone.

My assumption is proven correct as we are suddenly shot at from the plaza below. Shepard and Jacobs dive behind cover as I return fire as I run to get to cover for the two humans took up all the damn room. I kill a few as I finally make it and reload.

Using military hand signals, I sign that I will flank around under my cloak. She nods and lays down suppressing fire as I sneak down the stairs using my cloak and to the back of them. On the way, I slit ones throat that is hiding out of sight from his comrades. Once in position, I line up a head shot and open fire. I immediately take two down as the other five descend into panic due to the flanking. They are easily taken care of.

We open the door and continue on... Until I get shot in the fucking hand! I drop behind cover holding my hand and Shepard shouts, "Sniper!" No shit! I just got fucking shot. As the two soldiers return fire, I check out my hand and find a neat hole in the center taking out the entire palm. I can't even move my fucking fingers due to the hit! Wait.

I can't move my fingers... If I can't move my fingers, I can't play. They ruined my career. They ruined my fucking career! Blind rage consumes me. I get into a crouch and my wings sprout from my back. My tattoo starts to burn through my shirt and jacket and fire starts rising from them.

I stand tall with bullets whizzing around me and set my glowing red eyes on the sniper. I raise my hand and mark him in my mind. I take a step forward and I appear in his group. I fold my wings in around me and let the fire raising from my brands go. Becoming a pillar of blue flame, burning all while laughing a laugh full of malice and violence, only enhanced by my magic. Bringing the mercs to their knees in fear.

The fire stops and I unfold my wings to see the mercs cowering before me. I draw my dagger which turns into a longsword of blue fire. Which is so cold it freezes while burning the air around it. I swiftly stab the closest one in the gut and have him burn to cinder off my blade.

I savagely laugh as I lunge thirty feet to the next guy and then a nearby krogan from the bloodpack. I kill and kill the two warring merc groups, only stopping when I decapitate the final one. As his head burns to ash. I calm down. My brands stop glowing and my dagger turns back to the five-inch blade. My hand is now whole again. Seems my lunatic level rage healed me up.

After the blood haze ends. I start thinking that I may have gotten more than just wings from my angel parent. I check my hand's movement and find all is fine and see that my shield did survive the slaughter, just that it needs to recharge.

A wave of fatigue hits and I stumble to the wall and slide down it as my vision starts zoning in and out. I curl my legs in and rest my head as I hear my commander hesitant approach. When she stops next to me, I say in a tired voice, "Surprised us both, that one," I weakly chuckle as I rest against the wall.

"What happened?" She quietly asks. I hear fear in her voice. If I made the commander scared, then that must have been a truly fear inducing display. The enhanced laughter probably didn't help even if it the magic only affects my enemies.

"I got shot in the hand. No longer could move it." I meet Shepard's emerald eyes with my own pale green ones, "My life is of music. That is all I've known for the longest of time. When I no longer could feel my hand... I lost control because I knew that the bullet had ruined my life. I went into a rage and this is the result." I wave at the piles of ash and melted steel from the pillar assualt.

"H- How did you do all this? Don't pawn it off as being a bard because there is no fucking way that, that had anything to do with sounds!"

I smile at her. "Not here. I'll tell you... at the ship. The wings are old, but the... fire and teleportation is new."

She rubs her face, "Fine... Are you good to continue?"

I struggle to my feet. I feel all my magic gone. "I can... still shoot," I tell her. "Just... nothing else for at least a day." I draw my wings in and notice that I am back to my base form. I try to change to a human, but couldn't. Too tired and drained.

I draw my rifle from my back which stayed on due to the mag clamp that survived the fire. Seems that just my clothing burned due to the soft and flammable materials they were. I guess the pillar of fire only harms the enemy.

"Okay... Let's... go," I pant out from having to get to my feet. Going to be a huge help champ with all this boundless energy! Shepard leads the way and Jacobs stays behind me. I could almost smell the fear radiating off him. We go through the door and find the clinic right in front of us... Really?!

The doctor we are after, we find has made a cure. He gives it to Shepard and tells us that he will join when we spread it through the airways. Just as we leave, he grabs my shoulders, "Are you okay? High temperature, exhaustion and mild dehydration. Not plague symptoms. Rest and water should fix the problem," he rambles.

I back out of his grip and tell the fast talking doctor, "I'm good. Just a little tired." I give him a smile and step away from his now rambling mouth. Shepard gives me a curious look and I wave her off. We leave the clinic and go hunt for the environment control center. There was heavy resistance, but we mostly got the drop on them so we quickly dispatched the hostiles.

I cover the door while Shepard fucks with the controls. We find that the airways are not controlled at the central terminal, but at two control panels on either end of the room. Shepard and I take one while Jacobs takes the other. With the room filling with hostile mercs, that is easier said than done. After the mad dash and killing was over. Shepard slaps in the cure and all is well in the land of Omega. If you ignore the murder... thieves... drugs. This place still sucks, but people can now be healthy as they rob and plunder each other.

When all enemies are dead, we head back to the clinic. I am finding it harder and harder to pick up my feet and walk. When we arrive, Mordin the Salarian decides that since we held our end of the deal, he'll hold his and joins us. We all make it back to the ship in one piece. I barely get into my room before fainting from exhaustion.

I find that I don't wake up for another two days. When I do, I notice something about my tattoos that has changed. They can now be hidden using my powers. I guess the outburst finalized something. I leave the tattoos out because I have become use to it and they are part of my base form.

I know without a doubt in my mind that I am the son of an Angel of Vengeance. The underground priest that I stayed with, Father Geoffrey, taught me a few things in his trade. Said he saw something holy in me. Showed me medicine, information on the gods which I incorporated into my sagas and rituals. Even taught me the ritual 'Raise dead'. Warned me that if I do it more than once a year, then I will be thrown into the lowest pits of hell for tampering with death too many times. Back on the angel thing. He once summoned one to avenge his son that the Templars killed. Bedridden him for a month from the amount of magic it took for the job.

I toss on a N7 hooded zip up, leaving the front open and walked out. I find Shepard at the galaxies map. I walk up to her and ask, "What did I miss in my mini-coma?" She jumps in surprise. I guess she didn't hear me walk up.

She turns to me and says, "Come with me." She starts to walk around the corner, I follow her. As I follow, I notice that for some reason I feel way better than when I first got here. My mind is more organized and I just feel... Healthier.

We walk into the conference room. She sits at one end of the table and I sit across from her. "Now to start this. What the FUCK was that wing shit you did?!"

Dammit. I think I may have to come clean, but I will try not to. "Um... the wings, I think they are due to a parent. Not sure, I'm an orphan. I only know what species I am thanks to my master who was versed in the old stuff. I really don't know, they came out a few months back."

"Okay... What about the fire and tattoo?"

"The tat came with the wings. More of a brand. Burned into my skin. Only now can I hide them with my power. The fire... well search me because I have no fucking idea where that came from. Probably same source as the wings," I told her, lying my albino ass off.

We discuss the wings for another hour. Basically the same questions for an hour. Why, where and how. I tell her that thugs broke my harp that my master gave me and my wings came out for some reason. Nothing about templars. I finally get a break. I leave the room and head down to the mess to get some food and water. Sweet glorious water! I am THRISTY!

I walk in and almost immediately get hit by a black missile, knocking me to the floor. Looking down, I see Kasumi crushing my ribs. Chuckling, I dislodge her and get up. I reach down and pull her to her feet as well. I make my way to the cook and get my food.

The men complain about it, but when you have lived off the left overs from inns for a third of your life, this meal is fit for kings in my eyes. I sit down with the rest of the ground team.

I sit next to Garrus and greet him, "S'up Archangel!"

"Seems that I'm not the only angel here anymore," Garrus chuckled out. I pause mid-bite and glance at Jacobs. He smirks in good-nature at me.

"You sneaky bugger," I say with a casual grin at finding my secret getting out. As long as they don't know I am from another universe, I don't care. With Shepard believing the lie I set up. I don't need to care about hiding the wings anymore. Well... from the crew at least. Anyone else is a no-no.

"So... Can you fly with them?" Garrus asks.

I nod, "Yeah, about... 13km/hr over flat land I think." I tested it out with Kasumi.

"So you could race a Turian with those wings... Nice!" he nods approvingly. "Of course if we race, I would still win." I bark out a laugh and go back to eating my food and chugging down three bottles of water.

Kasumi suddenly speaks up, "Ciaran... Is it just me or did you put on a lot more muscle since I last saw you?" I look down at my torso and find that I have packed on some more muscle. I still have a lean body, just more densely muscled. Can never get rid of a changling natural frail looking shape.

I shrug and put it down to the recent change in my mind as something to do with me doing the flame shit. "I probably just unlocked my heritage or something involving the wings. Pft, I have no idea what my body does anymore."

Kasumi shakes her head and bids me a farewell saying she has to do something. Jacobs speaks up as she leaves, "I do have a question. Why do you not care if you expose your body to all these strangers?"

"Eh," I shrug, "When you can make yourself into anyone in the room, you kind of loss care at what can be seen. Don't get me wrong, I'm never just going to walk around without clothes, but I can comfortable walk down the street without a shirt on. I don't because others find it offensive."

Jacobs just shakes his head and finishes his meal and leaves. Garrus says something about calibrations and heads out, leaving me with Jack and Miranda. Mordin is in his lab. We talk and I get caught up on what I missed from Miranda, while Jack just unabashedly flirts with me and tries to get me in bed with her. When I finish, I get up and say, "Well ladies, have a pleasant day."

I toss my trash and go to the gym to exercise and judge if I got stronger if I'm going by muscle mass. I go over to the bench press and start out low, 120 lb. I find it very easy, so I do ten and increase to 150. Easy, so I do ten and increase to 200. Little resistance, but nothing I can't handle. 250 is the next set. I start to get worried. This much increase in muscle can't be healthy. Again it is easy to do ten. I up it to 300 and try. Now it starts to get a little hard. I do ten and rack it.

I have apparently doubled my strength. I would like to say cool, but I also would like a straight answer more then anything. I guess Angels are strong and if I am from a vengeance based one, then I'm the child of the strongest. Also taking in account of the standard weakness of a changling and I am probably one of the strongest in my old universe now.

I feel like I cheated. Sure I worked out a lot to keep strong, but this much increase seems like I just skipped all the hard work and I don't want anyone to accuse me of being lazy. I take off my jacket and start working out. I'm not part of the next ground team, that honor goes to Mordin and Garrus, so I can focus on earning these new muscles and if it increases more, who am I to complain? I would have worked for that one.


	5. Chapter 5

The next mission was to pick up a Krogan warlord or something. Be interesting to have a Krogan aboard. So for the next few days, I spend at least five hours in the gym. It takes that long to run myself down even if I chant a song of battle to increase my workout time. I notice something odd. It seems that my body doesn't expand with muscle and just condenses it and makes it harder. Like originally it was iron, but is slowly shifting to steel and beyond. Not saying I'm as strong as steel, but it goes along with the metaphor.

This continues for ten days. I still make time to be with Kasumi and talk with everyone. Still having a life. I notice Kasumi and Shepard hanging out a lot more, so when she isn't there to talk with, I'm around Garrus, getting some lessons on the finer arts of calibration. Should help my gunsmithing if I learn it more in-depth.

I try to avoid Miranda and Jack. Ms. Fake is just a spy and I can see her stabbing me in the back and Jack... Jack is a fucking lunatic with a capital "L". Mordin is a good guy, but he gives me a migraine if I am around him too long. Finally, on the tenth day we arrive at the planet for the new guy. Shepard and the chosen crew goes out onto the planet full of wreckage.

While they are fighting, I grab my guitar and just play an upbeat song to make sure no one worries too much about the away crew. I play for about two hours and Joker even made my playing over all the speakers. All who hear the quick melody are affected by my magic so the entire ship is calm.

As I draw the song to a close, Shepard comes into the mess with the tired crew for some food. I call out, "How did it go?"

"We have a Krogan. That's all I know. Don't even know if it will live if I let it out of the pod it is in or if it will go into a bloodrage."

"Want me there to calm it?" I heft my guitar.

Jack butts in, "What can you do with that guitar? I mean, you are good at playing, but a raging Krogan is not going to stop with just nice playing."

I start laughing. "I'm a bard! Sure I can play an instrument like no tomorrow, but that's not all bards do! I can weave biotics to affect emotion! I can even dominate the will of a creature if I'm close enough, but that takes some power and the more willful it is, the harder it is, plus it only lasts for like ten seconds before the creature will want revenge."

Jack just stares at me. "What? You thought Shepard kept me around for my devilishly good looks?" I look over at Shepard with a smirk and she laughs. "So want me around or you good to solo this?"

"I'll solo it. I may need to establish that I am the leader and having help might undermine that."

We talk for a bit more at the tables while everyone eats. When they're done and gone, I change into shorts and go to the gym for another long marathon of running, lifting and fighting a large bag. While working out, Shepard comes over the comms tell the crew that we are going to Horizon. A planet that may be attacked by collectors. We will arrive in five days and that I and the new guy. I believe Shepard named him Grunt. The pod-born Krogan. She had let him out an hour after our conversation.

I continue my strict excise routine. On the third day, Shepard comes down and talks to me. "Ciaran, can I have a minute?" She starts talking when I am benchpressing 400 pounds, so I do a few more rep and rack it.

I cheerfully ask, "What can I do for you?"

"Not that I'm complaining, but why are you always working out when you're not hanging around the crew? What sparked this exercise kick?"

"I gained a ton of muscle from the outburst and well... I felt like I cheated, getting so much stronger without the work, so I am here to earn the muscles. I did that yesterday, so now it's just a habit and a way to release my energy."

She stares at me. So I simplify it kind of, "It's a pride thing." she nods and says her goodbyes. I work out for another hour to finish. I clean up and go upstairs to get my guitar and to change into pants and my jacket. I don't wear a shirt while on the ship.

I walk into my room and stop mid step. On Kasumi's bed is her and Shepard with their tongues down each others throat and no tops on. Shepard hears me and squeaks from surprise, trying to cover herself. I hear the squeak and just start to laugh as I cross the room to my bed.

As I grab my stuff, I say, "Kasumi, I got to say, you never struck me to play for the other team. Shepard... I don't know enough about you, but you... You're good at hiding it."

"Yep. Funnier to flirt with men if they don't see that I'm batting for the other team." I don't get the saying, what is batting? but I know from context what its about.

"Ah well, have fun." I turn and walk out. I suddenly turn before I leave the room, "If you take it up to the next level, please lock the door. I can laugh this off, but I really don't want to see my Commander and partner going at it like rabbits."

Kasumi gives me a thumbs up while Shepard just blushes enough to reach her hair color. I close the door and go to the showers to change into my casual and combat attire. I go to the mess and set up shop. In honor of the couple going hot and heavy in Kasumi's and my room, I play an upbeat 21th century love song. After I finish the crew's moral boost, I grab some food. By this time, it is about ten at night. I go back to my room and find... it's locked and there are muffled gasps behind the door.

Sighing, I go to the library on the ship and fall asleep in one of the chairs. Going to have a stiff back when I get up tomorrow.

I wake up stiff and in need of food. Called it. I go down to the mess and find Shepard and Kasumi sitting alone together. I grab my food and sit across from them.

I set my elbows on the table, prop my head up and just look at the couple. After a minute, Kasumi couldn't take it and says, "What?!"

"Have a good night did we, you usually break a few seconds in." Kasumi grinned and Shepard once again blushed. Chuckling, I eat my food. When I'm done, I stand up and crack my back loudly. Inhaling sharply in pain, I decide to walk that one off. "Cya ladies, I think I just broke my back and need to walk it off." I stiffly made my way to my room to pick up shorts for the gym.

The next night, I am once again in the library, so I just took a hammock from storage and set it up in the corner. I get a good night sleep. Good because tomorrows the mission and I don't want to fight collectors with a stiff back.

The night passes and we arrive at the planet. Mordin set each of us up with a mod for our shield to repel the collectors bugs. Something about paralysis if stung. Anyways, we land with the shuttle and dismount. I immediately understand the bugs being a problem because they are EVERYWHERE. The mod seems to hold, so we go our way. Around the first bend we run into the collectors and they are UGLY! Giant bugs with organic looking rifles. They open fire and we dive behind cover. I pop out, shoot one in the shoulder to stun it from its charge to cover and using the opportunity, blow off its head.

"First blood ahaha!" I cry out to the new-born Krogan. Grunt shouts in anger and leaps cover firing like a lunatic. Mowing down the hapless bugs in his path. I say to Shepard who is watching the destruction, "That, is how you motivate a Krogan."

We each start picking targets and open fire while Grunt is laughing in the background, slaughtering the panicking creatures. Almost feel bad for them... Then I get shot be their comrades, breaking my shield. Yeah fuck you too buddy!

We continue to mercilessly blow through the collectors when suddenly, one starts to glow and talk in this ominous voice. Shepard and I both throw three grenades at it. I think it was in mid speech, but a talking bug has to die.

Other then the occasional pop up of yellow bug or as he calls himself, Harbringer, we make it through fine and find the comms tower. After Shepard fucks around with it. We have to defend it as the VI on the ship finds us, EDI I think she goes by. The goal is to use the ship's weapons to blow up the collectors ship before they leave.

The collectors start swarming the area. We hunker down and shoot them. I destroy the harbringer with a roar when he first appears, and the next is with a reverse recital of ode to faith, which weakened him enough to put a bullet in one of his many eyes.

The fight was long, bloody and to the point. Grunt took around five hits, but he's a Krogan so he's all good and I take three up my leg. Crippling me for the fight. Grunt tosses me into a truck bed to have a stationary fighting position.

When all was done, a giant creature full of husks flies in. I almost cry when I see we have to continue fighting. Then I get an idea. I call down to Grunt and Shepard, "Toss me your grenade packs!" They do so without hesitation. I sprout my wings, and grab them and mine. I take to the air and drop the packs in the mouth of the creature with one of the grenades primed and ready to go boom.

A second ticks by, then BOOM baby! The creature blows apart, coating the area and apparently just me in its blood. I land in a crouch due to my leg failing to support me and try in vain to wipe all the shit off my body. "EWW!" I sheath my wings which does clean them, for the coatings on it doesn't enter my skin. Grunt starts to belly laugh at me. Sighing, I sheath my wings and using a crate as a support, get to my feet.

The collectors ship starts taking fire, but flees before it gets taken out. Well dammit, I got shot for nothing. As I silently rage and curse the collectors and my shot up leg in the background, a female comes out from a building, Shepard calls out to her, "Ashley!"

"Shepard, I thought you were dead! Everyone did!"

"I was... in a coma for two years while Cerberus fixed me up from the accident." This Ashley takes a step back.

"You... You work for Cerberus now?! The reports said this, but I never thought it would be true! How could you work for those people?!"

"I don't, we just have the same goal and they are helping me protect the colonies!"

"Do you really believe that! Or is that what they have told you?! Hell, you could be working with the collectors for all we know!" well she is crazy, but I see that is conversation is really upsetting the Commander.

I step in, figuratively for I can't walk,"What the fuck are you talking about, bitch-cakes?! If we were working together, then why the hell would I have THREE BULLETS LODGED IN MY GODSDAMNED LEG?! Plus, she is right about not answering to Cerberus, the PRO-HUMAN organization. If she did work for them, Me and Grunt here would not be here. Well... Grunt more then me, I think I could have faked it," I start rambling.

"So what, you just a dog of Cerberus as well?! And you're a human! You would still have joined!" Did she just not listen?

I shift back into my base form and hiss through my sharpened teeth, "I am the dog of no man!" She recoils from the sudden change. "Sheps, I'm going to go to the LZ and get in the ship, slowly bleeding out and all." I shuffle along the boxes as I make my way there as the two start arguing again. There is about a twenty feet flat land and five stairs between me and the building which on the other side is the LZ.

"Dammit!" You can do this Ciaran, just walk. One step in front of the other. I start shuffling across the way. Knees buckling under me. At the stairs I get on my good foot and using my new muscles, hop up the gap and catch myself on the wall. If only I didn't want that woman to see my wings, I could fly out, but no. If alliance catches wind of a new alien that can do magic and sprout wings, I am FUCKED with a capital "F". I can play off the shapeshifting okay, but using a whole different type of magic, no.

I get to the ship and wait. I find that I had fallen asleep because the next thing I know, Shepard is waking me up. "Wha-?" I ask groggy.

"Just making sure your not dying," Shepard jokes as she takes her seat.

I wave her off. I notice that she still looks upset. I resign myself to sleeping in the hammock once again. We get back to the ship and Shepard disappears. I head to the medbay to get the bullet wounds checked out. Doc just put on some gel and told me to stay off it for a day. I just go to my room, finding it locked, but they were considerate enough to put out a pair of pants and my guitar.

I change in the bathroom and go to my corner for some light playing. No magic, just some old songs I learned from Master.

I finish up around ten at night, so I check my room... Nope... I head over to the library and roll into my hammock ready to end the day.


	6. Chapter 6

The next mission is to pick up one of Shepard's old teammates from before the whole collector deal. A Tali'Zorah vas Neema. It will take a few days to get there. The ground team is Garrus and Jack. That... is a questionable combination. I hang around with Garrus while he's here and work on the weapon system calibration. I feel that the Turian would loss his purpose in life if EDI learns how to calibrate her own weapons.

I did my thing as we hurtle through space to get to the planet. Work out, play music and talk to my friends and shipmates. Teasing Shepard and Kasumi when I can. The mission left and I once again find myself stationed in the corner playing music to calm the crew and keep them on task.

Soon the team comes back with another member, Shepard complaining about geth and the sun, something about bombs and radioactive things fucking with her shields. I laugh when I hear this and continue playing. When the Quarian walks into the room, she stops for some reason and stares at me. I give a jaunty wave when I notice. She jogs over and asks excitedly, "How are you outside your suit?!"

"My what?" I look down to look at my clothes, I'm still wearing the open hooded jacket, which I have down, letting my pointed ears be open. I have on my black cargos and combat boots.

"You're a Quarian! How are you outside your suit?!"

"Is this what a Quarian looks like! Cool!" I raise my arms in celebration. She just stands there and by her body language, I know she is soooo confused. I stand and reach out with my five-fingered hand, "Hi! My name is Ciaran. I am not a Quarian, but a Changling. This is my base form." I gesture with my other hand at my body.

She shakes my hand and tilts her head, "Changling? I've never heard of one of you?"

"I seem to be the only one in this part of the universe. Hold on, I show you what we can do." I take a few steps back and zip up my jacket, Shepard and Kasumi would be pissed if I did what I was about to without zipping up. I then change into Shepard, then Kasumi, and last to a collector. She flinches back when I turn into a collector. I immediately change back to my base. "EW! That felt WEIRD!" I hop around and shake my head. I've never increased the length of my head before.

The crew laugh at my antics while they greet the new crew member. Getting over the change, I pick up my guitar and put it in the case I made. I pat Tali on the shoulder and say, "Got anymore questions, you can find me in the gym most days. That or talking to Garrus or Kasumi."

I leave and put away my guitar in the library and pick up my spare shorts and shoes. I change into them and head out. Heading to the gym, I start my routine. About midway through, I guess Tali's curiosity got the better of her, because I see her enter the room. Understandable seeing as Quarians are second only to Salarians in curiosity. At that moment, I am punching a bag. She comes over just as I finish. Meaning, I punched the bag off the hook and into the wall a few feet back. The muscles I have built are nearing superhuman status. I even got compared to a Krogan by the crew. I hear squeak and turn my attention to Tali, "Greetings! I assume you have more questions."

She just dumbly nods and stares at the downed bag. "Are all your kind that strong?"

I chuckle and tell her, "Nah, most of us are weaker than most humans. We specialize in deception because in a one on one fight, most of use can be beat by a teenager. Honestly, I don't think I'm a pure-blooded Changling because I can do this kind of thing."

"Then what are you?"

"That my dear, I will not tell people until I know it will be safe to say. I do have wings though, so that's a plus."

"Wings? Why would you tell me this? Isn't that part of your secret?"

I outright laugh, "Yeah... Yeah it was until I lost control in front of a closet gossiper and unleashed them on my enemies. I discovered three things that day. One, I can conjure fire, but I have no idea how to go about doing that in my right mind and that I can teleport." My eyes flash red and I point at the treadmill on the other side of the room. I taught myself how to do this willingly after Horizon because of the whole not walking thing. The pointing marks the object in my mind so I can step over there.

I take a step and I'm there. I hear a gasp from across the room. I walk back over to her, "Can do that once every minute. Not too good at it right now, but hey, I can teleport. Last is that if you want something secret, Shepard will keep it, but Jacobs won't." I go over to the bag and lift it back into position on the rings.

In this time, Tali recovers enough to ask a few more questions, "So you are the entertainer on this ship?"

"Aye. I'm a bard. Music is in my soul. I am also part of the ground team as well though."

"What's a bard?" she asks me, once more tilting her head to the side. I find it strangely cute.

"Type of Musician. In my case, I can fuse a special type of Biotics into sound and influence, even kill people with it." I smile at her. "Useful, but I mostly just use my biotics to add more emotion to my music for peoples enjoyment. Like say, if I was playing a fun soothing song, I can weave in some joy and relaxing feelings in there."

"Can you give me a demonstration?" She asks hopefully.

"Curious thing aren't you," I say with a chuckle. Her body language shows a hint of her embarrassment. "Sure... How about I do you of the only stealth ones I know." Using hand gestures, I start weaving the sounds around us not to carry noise. Once done, I clap my hands and talk. Hearing nothing, I sign out in military sign language, "Can you hear me?"

She shakes her head no. I drop the spell. "I changed the sounds around the area not to carry noise around. I can set off a grenade in there and no one will hear it."

She excitedly asks more questions about my trade and I honestly answer them, for it has nothing to do with my origins if I stick to saying it's biotics, not magic. By the time wind down, we have somehow found out a way to use technology to stop my influence and how to augment some tech with biotics. All in theory for now, but nice to eventually have some little projects. We only pause our talk to let me shower and put my pants and jacket on. We stop when it hits two at night.

"I'm sorry I kept you up so long!" she apologized when she saw the time.

I wave her apology off, "Eh, I can't go back to my room anyways. I bunk with Kasumi and well... She tends to lock the door when Shepard visits for the night.

"Huh... Why would sh-" She cuts herself off and I almost see the blush through her visor.

"Ah, put two and two together did ya?" I laugh. "So have you claimed a spot as your own yet? I'll just tell you that you should avoid the bowels of the engineering wing. Jack lives there and I think she may not like someone coming into her territory. She's kind of like a rabid dog in that regard."

We both have a laugh at Jack's expense. "No, I think I'll set up near the core."

"Why? Doesn't the energy from the core mess with your stuff?"

"No, it's all contained in a field, but now that I know Jacks down there... I am having second thought on living down there. She was... a little rude when we first met."

"That's just part of her charm... Plus what seems to be having no inhibitions. Well anyways the room in the cargo area is free at the moment. There is a trash compactor in there to warn you and the video surveillance of the ship also set up in there I think."

"That sounds much better then sleeping under the catwalks of the core with jack walking around."

I smirk and lead her to the room. Inside, I find really nothing in there. I leave and come back with a hammock. "Until you get some furniture. Sleeping on the chairs here sucks. She nods her thanks and I head back to the library and to my nearing permanent bed. I now keep some clothes and my guitar in my corner of the room.

The next day we set off for Tuchanka, the Krogan home world. Mordin has something he needs to do and something is bothering Grunt. The journey does not take long, just a day or two. Shepard, Grunt, Mordin, and I are see what the problem is. She's taking me because I may be able to calm the Krogans if they attack. Nice to know I'm needed

We land and head inside the underground bunker. Shepard leads us to the to the clan leader. A Urdnot Wreav. Not a very nice fellow, but he gives us an answer to whats wrong with Grunt. He is going through puberty... Caught us all by surprise really. He directs us to the clan's shaman to get the trial done on Grunt so he is an Adult Krogan.

We head up and meet a Gatatog Uvenk who protests that Grunt shouldn't be able to take the rite of passage due to him being a "Tank-born" When we approach, Grunt defended himself, "I'll speak for myself!"

The Shaman came up and inspected him, "This is the Tank-bred? It is very lifelike." He takes a sniff... Ew, Grunt does not have the most pleasant of odors. "Smells correct as well. Your protests ring hollow, Uvenk."

"If this must stand on ritual, then I invoke a denial! My Krantt stands against him! He has no one!" That son of a bitch. The shaman looks frustrated, but confirms that he has the right to do this. A krantt apparently is allies that will fight to the death with you. I'm going to get roped into this one somehow, I can almost see it.

"We stand by him as shipmates and comrades!" Shepard says... Dammit.

Then Uvenk makes me mad. "Aliens don't know strength," Bitch just called me and my comrades weak. That will not stand! As he talks and casually insults us some more, I step around Shepard in a casual nature. When I get close enough, I step up and sucker punch the Krogan in the stomach, knocking the breath out of him and bringing him to his knees. Huzzah for super strength!

I grab him by his head plate and crouch down to his level. "You have just insulted my friend and commander by calling her weak. I should kill you for this, but... we are visitors here, so I'm not sure how this would go over. I will warn you that is you insult me or commander Shepard again, I will rip off your head plate and shove it through your skull." I keep a calm almost happy voice through the entire threat. "Are we clear Krogan?" He struggles in my grip, but I keep a firm hold, "I said, Are. We. CLEAR!" My whole eyes shifts to blood-red, white and all, and voice goes deep and gravelly, not unlike the sound of demons I've read about.

He quickly nods. I let go, stand up and deliver a hard kick to his face, knocking him over and a bit back. Unknown to me at the time, that Krogan was wearing armor on him belly, so I had enough power in the punch to rival a Krogan. As his clanmates pick him up, the shaman just laughs and brings us to a vehicle, saying there is "Fire in this one."

Shepard takes me to the side, "You can't just hit people!"

"He called you weak! That is an insult through all you've done! Kasumi loves you, and since I see her as a sister, I will protect the honor of the person she loves. No matter what said person says."

Shepard just sighs, knowing I won't change. "Did you really have to fight a Krogan though?"

I just laugh and jog over to the giant vehicle that we are taking. The ride takes a few hours. The beast does not have a very fast land speed. Once we get there, we find ourselves in the ruins of an old city. In the middle is a giant... drill I believe.

We must activate it and fight what comes out. After the shaman leaves, Grunt slaps the button. The drill goes up... Then down causing us to stumble. Suddenly, pipe ways open up and varrens of all sizes charge out at us. We all pull shotguns or in Mordin's case, a submachine gun and go to town on these animals.

One by one, the animals die under our bullets. My gun goes click right as the last of them are dispatched. The... The drill sounds again. The area beyond the walls shake and shudder. Out of the corner of my eye, I see something big pop out of the ground. Oh please lords and ladies, No! I look over and see... A big ass Thresher Maw that is in the process of spitting acid at me. I scream like a girl and dive behind cover which saved me as the thing's acid exploded just on the other side.

Grunt laughed at me as he started to shoot the Maw. After calming down a bit, I start firing and chanting out a war song to give energy to the team. Grunt gives a cry of destruction and even Mordin gave a high pitched battlecry at the end. If I wasn't fighting a Thresher Maw, I would be on the ground laughing.

My grin falls when my cover is hit by acid, breaking it and sending me flying onto my ass in the open. Scrambling to my feet, I see another glob coming at me. I dive out of the way, but not quick enough as it coats my leg, ending just below my knee and above my foot. It quickly melts my pant leg below the knee, then goes to work on my skin.

I scream in agony as the flesh melts off my leg. Revealing the muscle underneath. The pain lasts for an eternity as I try in vain to cut it from my mind. My tattoos on my arm burst into flames. Oh no! I can't do that near everyone. I start crawling along the ground and fling myself off the platform as my wings sprout. At that moment, I loss control over the fire and it erupts.

The thirty foot pillar of cold-fire that is sure to be seen for miles. The pain numbs for a bit as the fire settles. Looking down, the damage to my muscles are good, but being able to see all the muscles down my leg from my knee to my ankle is not a good thing. Hearing the gunfire continue, I crawl over to where I drop my gun to get back in the fight.

I grab it and roll over, onto my back. Looking over, I see the Maw has many holes in its armour, so I aim for them and open fire. I hear Shepard shout something, then a whoosh. Looking up, I see that she had launched a rocket. Everything stops as we watch the rocket's flight.

It lands perfectly and takes out the creature's lower jaw, killing it. I give a little cheer as it falls with a earth-shaking thud. When it lands, I flop my head back down as my vision spirals in and out. I feel something wet on my back. Shifting my head, I see that the puddle of blood around my leg has grown and is now a few feet across.

Well that's not good. I hear another thump and look up to see Shepard and team rushing to my side. Shepard slides next to me and looks at my leg, "Shit... Mordin, you have anything that can fix this?"

He starts spreading medi-gel on my leg, when that jackass Krogan I punched struts in with some of his crew. He and Shepard have a conversation and end up shooting him in the skull. Needless to say that this aggravated the other Krogans and she and Grunt started to take them down as Mordin healed me up.

The battle was very short as the two mowed their way through the Krogan. A few minutes later, I am able to limp my way out, but also notice that I broke my arm from the drop. When I get to the team, I tell them, "Well, I am not combat-able so I guess I will head back to the ship when we get back." I gesture to my arm with a little bone sticking out. Damn this hurts.

Shepard acknowledges this just as the shaman shows up to take us back. The ride back, I spent nursing my broken arm. The leg hurt, but with it numb now, the arm is flaring up. As we dismount, I wave the captain farewell, call the Normandy, and head off to get back aboard. Sheps sends Mordin to see me there.

I ignored some choice word from the Krogan as I limped back to the ship with the Salarian's help. After decontamination, which HURT, I head to the medbay to get my arm and leg fixed up. Mordin goes back to the team to work on his problem As I limp my broken ass in, I call out, "S'up doc! I need something fixed," I degrade into chuckles as I finish the sentence. My mind not functioning at full power at the moment.

She looks over and sees me. With acid burns all over, covered in my own blood, open fracture on my arm, and fresh skin over my entire leg. I hear a gasp and see Tali getting a check-up. As I walk... Limp to the bed the doc pointed at, I say, "How you doing Tali?"

"F- Fine... What happened to you?!" The doc starts to scan my arm and inject it with something that numbs the pain.

"Well... Lets just say Thrasher Maws are bitches and leave it at that."

The doc spoke up, "I'm going to have to put you under to fix your arm and check your leg out." I give her the go ahead and she injects me with something which knocks me out in seconds.


End file.
